As I alluded to earlier, It's Showtime and REBELS are set to work together on July 18th in an event promoted by Stand Up Japan! The main event is set to be Giorgio Petrosyan vs. HINATA, which is one of the biggest non-K-1 MAX or Shootboxing fights Japan has seen in quite a while. There was talk of It's Showtime and the European Fighting Network establishing "It's Showtime Japan" in Japan, along with REBELS and a few other big names in Japan, but I didn't want to talk about it until I was sure (my Japanese only goes so far).

Nightmare of Battle did the honors of translating it, and it looks like It's Showtime Japan is a venture between It's Showtime's partners (It's Showtime and European Fighting Network), Japanese Martial Arts Directors (JMD) and REBELS. Together they have incorporated It's Showtime Japan, which will run it's first show next Spring. It will be a public company with Japanese kickboxer Toshio Fujiwara as the representative director.

It's Showtime Japan will establish eight weight classes, which will all have their set of rankings and help broaden the talent pool for It's Showtime's World Championships. Those weight classes are 61kg, 65kg, 70kg, 73kg, 77kg, 85kg, 95kg and Heavyweight.

The July show, main-evented by Petrosyan and HINATA will be "It's Showtime Japan Countdown-1" -- promoted by Stand Up Japan! and It's Showtime Japan, it will not be an It's Showtime event proper, instead part of a charity event and the first in a series of "countdown" shows leading into the debut of It's Showtime in Japan. Needless to say, It's Showtime has declared war on K-1 by moving into their home turf and working with one of the only kickboxing organizations that they aren't actively involved with, we'll see how this plays out.